New Tools Launched to Expand Access to Financial Assistance
The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (LADPH) released a report Sept. 16 showing how hospitals provide financial assistance to patients. The agency also announced new tools to strengthen charity care practices in the region.
LADPH found that hospitals in the county reported $426.5 million of financial assistance in 2023. The four County-operated Department of Health Services hospitals, serving 16% of the Medi-Cal population, accounted for 38% of all financial assistance awarded. County hospitals awarded 4% of their gross patient revenue as financial assistance, with nonprofit and for-profit hospitals awarding 1%. Martin Luther King Jr. Community Hospital, a nonprofit hospital in historically underserved South LA, awarded 11% of its gross patient revenue as financial assistance, the highest in LA County.
The analysis, based on federal and state data, comes amid the burden of medical debt on more than 880,000 residents—one in nine adults—who carried over $2.9 billion in debt last year. Even insured patients are affected, often facing food insecurity, unstable housing or delayed care due to unpaid bills. Nationally, just 29% of patients with unaffordable hospital bills are able to learn about, apply for and receive financial assistance.
To help close this gap, the LA County Medical Debt Coalition has developed new model documents for hospitals. The model documents, aimed at increasing patients’ awareness of and access to programs, include a simplified application, clear policy and plain language summary. With this effort, the County joins a small number of jurisdictions in modernizing financial assistance materials to improve consistency across hospitals.
LA County also continues engaging in legislative advocacy to prevent medical debt, including support for AB 1312. The bill would expand the use of presumptive eligibility so low-income patients can automatically qualify for charity care based on existing data, even as recent federal Medicaid cuts may reduce or limit the impact of available resources.
For more information or to access the new tools, visit publichealth.lacounty.gov/PreventMedicalDebt.